Method for Generating Gas Mixtures Comprising Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide for Use in Synthesis Reactions

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/046,050, filed on Oct. 8, 2020, which is a U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2019/059204, filed on Apr. 11, 2019, which claims priority to Danish Application No. PA 2018 00155, filed on Apr. 13, 2018. The entire contents of each of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/046,050, International Application No. PCT/EP2019/059204, and Danish Application No. PA 2018 00155 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The present invention relates to a method for generating gas mixtures comprising carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and their use in synthesis reactions, especially hydroformylation and carbonylation reactions.

Carbon monoxide has a rich chemistry which has found many uses within the chemical industry (see e.g. R. A. Sheldon (ed.), “Chemicals from Synthesis Gas”, Reidel/Kluwer Dordrecht (1983)). Thus, several chemicals are produced with CO as one of the reactants, and such reactions are termed carbonylation reactions. Some carbonylation processes, such as methanol synthesis, rely on gas phase conversion. In many cases, however, the carbonylation reaction is performed in a liquid phase. Thus, methanol carbonylation to acetic acid or acetic anhydride, hydroformylation of alkenes to aldehydes and/or alcohols and Reppe carbonylations of alkynes or alkenes to carboxylic acids and derivatives thereof are all conducted in a liquid phase pressurized with a carbon monoxide containing gas. The present invention relates to such liquid phase carbonylation processes.

Regarding the hydroformylation reaction, it has been shown that the rate may be increased up to four-fold if the reaction is conducted in so-called CXL (CO-expanded liquid) media (see e.g. H. Jin & B. Subramaniam,59 (2004) 4887-4893 and H. Jin et al.,52 (2006) 2575-2581). Pressurizing an organic solvent with COmakes the solvent expand, and the diffusivity and solubility of other (reactant) gases are increased compared to the neat solvent. The use of CXL media is a general way of intensifying liquid phase catalytic reactions, such as carbonylations. However, a source of COas well as a source of CO (and a source of Hin the case of hydroformylation) need to be provided, which is not always feasible and under all circumstances will increase the complexity of the front-end.

A sustainable source of CO is CO. By means of a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or an SOEC stack, COcan be electrolyzed to CO. Furthermore, using the same SOEC or SOEC stack, Hcan be generated from HO. One limitation, however, is that the SOEC cannot operate at full conversion due to heavy formation of carbon or carbonaceous compounds in the cell. If pure CO (or CO/H) is desired, it is necessary to separate the unconverted CO, e.g. by means of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit. However, a PSA unit is expensive and adds substantially to the cost of the entire process.

Now it has turned out that, by the present invention, these problems combined can be turned into an advantage. Using CO(and optionally HO) as feed for an SOEC or SOEC stack operating at moderate (e.g. 25%) conversion, a stream of CO (and optionally H) in COis obtained, which can be used as the gaseous feed for catalyzed liquid phase carbonylation reactions, such as e.g. alcohol carbonylation, hydroformylation, Reppe carbonylations and Koch carbonylations. Thus, carbon dioxide will serve as the sole source of carbon monoxide, and any storage, transportation and handling thereof will be omitted. Furthermore, the presence of carbon dioxide in the reaction medium will provide the conditions for CXL, which will increase the reaction rate of the carbonylation reaction.

In the following, the hydroformylation reaction is used as an example to illustrate the invention.

Hydroformylation, also known as “oxo synthesis” or “oxo process”, is an industrial process for the production of aldehydes from alkenes. More specifically, the hydroformylation reaction is the addition of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H) to an alkene. This chemical reaction entails the net addition of a formyl group (CHO) and a hydrogen atom to a carbon-carbon double bond. The reaction yields an aldehyde with a carbon chain one unit longer than that of the parent alkene. If the aldehyde is the desired product, then the syngas should have a composition close to CO:H=1:1.

In some cases, the alcohol corresponding to the aldehyde is the desired product. When this is the case, more hydrogen is consumed to reduce the intermediate aldehyde to an alcohol, and therefore the syngas should have a composition of approximately CO:H=1:2.

Sometimes it is desired to purify the intermediate aldehyde before converting it into an alcohol. Accordingly, in such case, a syngas with the composition CO:H=1:1 must first be used, followed by pure H.

Thus, the need for low-module syngas (i.e. low hydrogen-to-carbon monoxide ratio) is characteristic for the hydroformylation reaction. Such a syngas composition is rather costly to provide since it cannot be obtained directly from steam reforming of natural gas or naphtha. At least a steam reformed gas must undergo reverse shift, i.e. the reaction CO+H->CO+HO, to provide sufficient CO. Otherwise, a cold box for condensing CO has to be installed to separate the CO. This is also a costly solution, and there will be an excess of hydrogen, for which a purpose for use has to be found.

Alternatively, gasification plants may provide low-module (i.e. CO-rich) syngas, but gasification plants need to be very large in order to be efficient, and they are also expensive, both with respect to CAPEX and to OPEX. Furthermore, coal-based gasification plants are increasingly undesired due to the substantial environmental implications and a large COfootprint.

Low-module syngas for hydroformylation is therefore generally costly. Large hydroformylation plants are often placed in industrial areas and may thus obtain the necessary syngas “over the fence” from a nearby syngas producer. In many cases, however, this is not possible for medium or small size hydroformylation plants. Instead, such smaller plants will need to import the syngas, e.g. in gas cylinders, which is very expensive. Furthermore, transportation and handling of such gas containers is connected with certain elements of risk since syngas (not least low-module syngas) is highly toxic and extremely flammable, and syngas may form explosive mixtures with air. Import of CO by tube trailers will face similar challenges, both in terms of costs and in terms of safety.

Regarding prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 8,568,581 discloses a hydroformylation process using a traditional electrochemical cell, not a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or an SOEC stack, for preparation of the synthesis gas to be used in the process. Water is introduced in a first (anode) compartment of the cell, and COis introduced into the second (cathode) compartment of the cell followed by alkene and catalyst addition to the cell, and the cathode induces liquid phase hydroformylation when an electrical potential is applied between the anode and the cathode.

In WO 2017/014635, a method for electrochemically reducing carbon dioxide is described. The method involves the conversion of COinto one or more platform molecules such as syngas, alkenes, alcohols (including diols), aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids, and also conversion of COinto i.a. CO, hydrogen and syngas. The method does not, however, include preparation of low-module syngas for hydroformylation.

US 2014/0291162 discloses a multi-step method for preparation of various compounds, such as aldehydes, by electrolysis of previously prepared COand/or CO and steam. The method includes i.a. heat transfer from a heating means towards a proton-conductive electrolyser comprising a proton-conducting membrane arranged between the anode and the cathode.

Applicant's WO 2013/164172 describes a process for the production of a chemical compound from a feed stream containing CO, the process comprising the steps of:

The invention described in WO 2013/164172 is thus based on the utilization of a combination of the two electrolysis streams (the CO-containing stream and the O-containing stream) for oxidative carbonylation reactions, while the present invention teaches how to obtain a suitable CO-containing stream by electrolysis to be used as one of the feed streams in carbonylation reactions.

Finally, US 2011/0253550 discloses a method for producing a synthetic material, where water is converted into Hand Ousing high-temperature electrolysis. Depending on the way the catalytic process is carried out, the mixture of water vapor, COand Hcan additionally be converted catalytically into functionalized hydrocarbons, such as aldehydes. This publication is very unspecific and does not define the concept of high-temperature electrolysis, neither in terms of temperature range nor in terms of the kind(s) of equipment being usable for the purpose.

Now it has turned out that the above-described elements of risk in relation to syngas can effectively be counteracted by generating the syngas, which is necessary for hydroformylation plants, in an apparatus based on solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) or SOEC stacks. A solid oxide electrolysis cell is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) run in reverse mode, which uses a solid oxide electrolyte to produce e.g. oxygen and hydrogen gas by electrolysis of water. Importantly, it can also be used for converting COelectrochemically into the toxic, but for many reasons attractive CO directly at the site where the CO is to be used, which is an absolute advantage. The turn-on/turn-off of the apparatus is very swift, which is a further advantage.

Thus, co-electrolysis of water and carbon dioxide in an SOEC stack may produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the desired ratio. If hydrogen is already available from other sources, then the SOEC may be used to generate carbon monoxide. This includes the option of preparing Hand CO in separate SOEC stacks. In practice it is usually desirable to operate the SOEC stack at less than full conversion and therefore the product gas will contain CO, COand optionally Hand HO. By cooling the raw product gas, most of the steam (if present) will condense, and it can then be separated from the gas stream as liquid water in a separator. The product gas may be further dried, e.g. over a drying column, if desired. The product gas will then contain CO, COand optionally Has the main components. The separation of COfrom the reactive components CO and His more complicated and costly than the separation of water from the product gas. It can be done by using a PSA (pressure swing adsorption) unit, which unfortunately is quite expensive. However, the presence of COin the hydroformylation reaction actually is an advantage: The hydroformylation reaction is carried out in a liquid medium, and pressurizing this liquid with COentails a CO-expanded liquid (CXL) as defined above. It has been described in the literature (see Fang et al.,46 (2007) 8687-8692 and references therein) that CXL media alleviate mass transfer limitations in the hydroformylation reaction and increase the solubility of the reactant gases in the CXL medium compared to the neat liquid medium. As a result of this, the rate of the hydroformylation reaction may be increased by up to a factor of four in CXL-media compared to neat organic solvents. Furthermore, the n/iso ratio, i.e. the ratio between linear and branched aldehydes, may be improved by using a CXL solvent compared to using the neat solvent as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 7,365,234 B2.

Therefore, the present invention offers a way to provide a syngas with the appropriate H/CO ratio while at the same time providing the COneeded for obtaining a CO-expanded liquid reaction medium for the hydroformylation process. If hydrogen is available from other sources, the present invention offers a way to provide a CO/CO-mixture which, when mixed with hydrogen, is suitable for carrying out the hydroformylation reaction in a CXL medium.

An example of an olefin used for the hydroformylation reaction is 1-octene, but in principle any olefin may be used according to the present invention. An example of a liquid solvent for the hydroformylation reaction is acetone, but a long range of other organic solvents may be used.

Many other catalyzed liquid-phase carbonylation processes are used industrially, and the present invention can be applied to all of them.

So it is the intention of the present invention to provide an apparatus generating syngas or a mixture of carbon oxides based on solid oxide electrolysis cells, which can generate syngas for hydroformylation plants or other plants which are based on synthesis with CO in the liquid phase. The raw materials for generating the syngas will be mixtures of COand optionally HO.

A solid oxide electrolysis cell system comprises an SOEC core, wherein the SOEC stack is housed together with inlets and outlets for process gases. The feed gas or “fuel gas” is led to the cathode part of the stack, from where the product gas from the electrolysis is taken out. The anode part of the stack is also called the oxygen side, because oxygen is produced on this side. In the stack, CO and Hare produced from a mixture of COand water, which is led to the fuel side of the stack with an applied current, and excess oxygen is transported to the oxygen side of the stack, optionally using air, nitrogen or carbon dioxide to flush the oxygen side.

More specifically, the principle of producing CO and Hby using a solid oxide electrolysis cell system consists in leading COand HO to the fuel side of an SOEC with an applied current to convert COto CO and HO to Hand transport the oxygen surplus to the oxygen side of the SOEC. Air, nitrogen or carbon dioxide may be used to flush the oxygen side. Flushing the oxygen side of the SOEC has two advantages, more specifically (1) reducing the oxygen concentration and related corrosive effects and (2) providing means for feeding energy into the SOEC, operating it endothermic. The product stream from the SOEC contains a mixture of CO, H, HO and CO, which—after removal of water, e.g. by condensation—can be used directly in the hydroformylation reaction.

In one embodiment of the invention, CO and Hare both made by electrolysis, but in separate SOECs or SOEC stacks. This has the advantage that each SOEC or SOEC stack may be optimized for its specific use.

The present invention pertains not only to the hydroformylation reaction, but in principle to all catalyzed liquid phase reactions where CO is one of the reactant chemicals.

The overall principle in the production of CO by electrolysis is that CO(possibly including some CO) is fed to the cathode. As current is applied to the stack, COis converted to CO to provide an output stream with a high concentration of CO:

If pure COis fed into the SOEC stack, the output will be CO (converted from CO) and unconverted CO.

If a mixture of COand HO is fed into the SOEC stack, the output will be a mixture of CO, CO, HO and H. In addition to the electrochemical conversion reaction of COto CO (1) given above, steam will be electrochemically converted into gaseous hydrogen according to the following reaction:

Additionally, a non-electrochemical process, namely the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, takes place within the pores of the cathode:

In state-of-the-art SOEC stacks, where the cathode comprises Ni metal (typically a cermet of Ni and stabilized zirconia), the overpotential for reaction (1) is typically significantly higher than that for reaction (2). Furthermore, since Ni is a good catalyst for the RWGS reaction, reaction (3) occurs almost instantaneously at SOEC operating temperatures. In other words, the vast majority of the electrolysis current is used for converting HO into H(reaction 2), and the produced Hrapidly reacts with CO(according to reaction 3) to provide a mixture of CO, CO, HO and H. Under typical SOEC operating conditions, only a very small amount of CO is produced directly via electrochemical conversion of COinto CO (reaction 1).

In case pure HO is fed into the SOEC stack, the conversion Xof HO to His given by Faraday's law of electrolysis:

where pis the partial pressure of Hat cathode outlet, pis the partial pressure of steam at cathode outlet, i is the electrolysis current, Vis the molar volume of gas at standard temperature and pressure, nis the number of cells in an SOEC stack, z is the number of electrons transferred in the electrochemical reaction, fis the flow of gaseous steam into the stack (at standard temperature and pressure), and F is Faraday's constant.

In case pure COis fed into the SOEC stack, the conversion Xof COto CO is given by an analogous expression:

where pis the partial pressure of CO at cathode outlet, pis the partial pressure of COat cathode outlet, i is the electrolysis current, Vis the molar volume of gas at standard temperature and pressure, nis the number of cells in an SOEC stack, z is the number of electrons transferred in the electrochemical reaction, fis the flow of gaseous COinto the stack (at standard temperature and pressure), and F is Faraday's constant.

In case both steam and COis fed into the SOEC stack, the gas composition exiting the stack will further be affected by the RWGS reaction (3). The equilibrium constant for RWGS reaction, K, is given by:

where ΔG is the Gibbs free energy of the reaction at SOEC operating temperature, R is the universal gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature.

The equilibrium constant, and therefore the extent to which electrochemically produced His used to convert COinto CO, is temperature-dependent. For example, at 500° C., K=0.195. At 600° C., K=0.374. At 700° C., K=0.619.

Thus, the present invention relates to a method for the generation of a gas mixture comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and optionally hydrogen for use in hydroformylation plants or in carbonylation plants, comprising the steps of:

For use in the hydroformylation reaction, the molar ratio between steam and carbon dioxide is preferably in the interval 0-2, more preferably in the interval 0-1.5 and most preferably in the interval 0-1, since this ratio will provide a syngas with a CO:Hratio of 1.015:1 (see Example 4 below).

Preferably the temperature, at which CO is produced by electrolysis of COin the SOEC or SOEC stack, is around 700° C.